Had a heart attack.

SignorePillolaRossa · March 29

Full and fast recovery, sensei! Best wishes to your lovely bride as she de-stresses from the upheaval.

Monkeys_Uncle · March 29

I leave this place for a year and ya'll go and give Athol a heart attack... See what happens when you people refuse to stop talking about BDSM?!?!

Seriously, glad you are pulling through and recovering so well. Has to be a scarey time for you and your family. My grandfather had a heart attack in his early 50's, recovered, almost made it to 90 and was healthy and active until the very end. I've heard a surprisingly high number of similar stories. You take care and get yourself better. All of us will take it upon ourselves to have a lot more sex until you are back at full steam, so you can rest easy.

SaigoTakamori · March 29

Health
AND
Happiness

Sensei.

TheOptimist · March 29

Wishing you a full and complete recovery Athol. And thank you for the amazing and life-changing work you have done with MMSL. You and your family are the absolute first and only priority right now though. Look after yourself mate, for yourself, and for them.

Under_Construction · March 29

Hey Athol. Really sorry to hear about your experience and wishing you a speedy recovery. I applaud Jen for getting you prompt attention!

realeyes · March 29

So sorry to hear of this, Athol. Best wishes to you for a speedy recovery!

sf64 · March 29

You, Jen and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

TooEarlyTooLate · March 29

Sorry to hear this but glad you are doing better. Be well and rest up.

Athol_Kay · March 29

Fairly quiet day yesterday. Quite tired, but mood coming up really well.

Athol_Kay · March 29

Looking back it's apparent I've probably been dealing with all this for about five years, but hugely so the last 1-2 years.

I do remember going to the ER in 2011 or 2012 to rule out a heart issue, but normal EKG and "you're just under a lot of stress sir" and walking out with an Ativan script.

All my EKG's have been normal, blood pressure has been normal the last two years. I had some moderate chest pain and harder to breathe in 2013 and got pneumonia Dx and breathing treatments and anti-biotics. Exact same sense of being as bad when I was shooting the videos in March 2015. Exact same thing last week... except I had a heart attack.

Looking back, I suppose the only way it would have been spotted would have been an ultrasound of my heart, but not sure why a normal EKG + normal blood pressure would have ever suggested anyone do that.

But it now explains why everything was feeling like trying to run waist deep in molasses.

Scarlet · March 29

Gah, how frustrating.

My stepdad was dealing with similar issues. He's gained some weight the last few years and he chalked it up to that and getting older, but he didn't really gain THAT much weight and he's not that old! Finally had chest pain, went to the doctor, failed a stress stress so they did a cath and echocardiogram, and turns out he had blockages in two arteries and needed a new aortic valve.

It took about two months for him to feel like himself again, though I should point out he had open heart surgery due to the aortic valve. Now he feels like a new man. I hope it's the same for you.

george · March 29

Pretty much the same for my brother, who went through this a few weeks ago. Says now it's obvious he'd been feeling less than 100% for years. But now he feels better than ever. Only a few weeks after. And they checked everything while they were in there so he feels better about that. Still scary though.

Oh. And he's my YOUNGER brother.

beribboned · March 29

I hope you're all healed up and feeling all better soon.

frillyfun · March 29

My Dad had a stent placed, and there was a night, and day difference after the initial healing phase. You could actually see how much healthier he looked in pictures, and he said he felt like a new man.

I hope they revitalize you the same way they did for him.

Under_Construction · March 30

Athol_Kay said:
Looking back, I suppose the only way it would have been spotted would have been an ultrasound of my heart, but not sure why a normal EKG + normal blood pressure would have ever suggested anyone do that.

This is often the case Athol. Normal ECG, normal troponin, even normal exercise stress test. Quite a lot can happen even in 3-4 years and the process of intra-arterial inflammation is so complex it may not have been an issue back then. The problem is that it puts you off pinning cardiac issues as the potential cause down the track because it's been investigated previously. The only definitive test is an angiogram which they don't do lightly. Even the chest pain could be caused by the pneumonia back in 2013. It's impossible to tell. My mother in law was getting short of breath for ages and she had a CT angiogram which was normal. It wasn't until we pressured her to get a second opinion and she had an angiogram - the guy couldn't even pass the wire down the arteries they were so bad. I think it just demonstrates there are so many variables and thank goodness you got prompt treatment when you did, which would minimize any longer term damage. I hope you're doing better day by day. Don't skip on your cardiac rehab!!

WarnPeace · March 30

Wow. Two of my uncles have been through this in recenty years, both are leading happy health lives now. Take care Athol and make heathly living your priority.